My kitchen sink is in an extension the previous owner built. The pipes are about two feet beyond the foundation and enclosed in plywood and insulation. I got up this morning and have no cold water. I cracked the hot water faucet to keep it from freezing, but won't have time this morning to access the cold water pipe to try and thaw it. If I leave it to thaw on it's own tomorrow when the temps return above freezing is there a chance that the pipe won't burst and it will work fine again? I know I'm taking a chance and I am going to turn the well pump off while we are at work so if it does break the pump won't run all day, I just want to know if anyone had this happen without it ending in disaster.
Run an extension cord and a trouble light under there for a quick fix. Leave the light on. Unless the wind is whistling through there, it should generate enough heat to keep the pipe somewhat thawed out. Be sure to leave the faucet open(if the water is turned off) so it has some place to expand to instead of the pipe.
The pipe is enclosed from the bottom so by the time I could reach the pipe it would be warm out
That's why God made drills and/ or saws.
Don't leave a light in an enclosed area like that. If you could get in there, you might as well use the electric pipe wrap at that point.
For now, turn off the cold water supply in the basement and open the cold water tap in the kitchen. That may allow for further expansion without bursting the pipe.
It's also possible that the warming of your hot water pipe might be enough to thaw the cold water pipe if they're close enough. Of course, none of this business happens in minutes...it's typically hours, in my experience.
Clem
The burst would have already happened, if it's going to happen. It's actually not that common, usually the ice expands along the pipe, pushing the water backwards, and blowing the faucet.
I thawed mine last year with a heat gun. Just opened the sink, and applied the heat. Eventually it started flowing.
Joey
Woody wrote:
Don't leave a light in an enclosed area like that. If you could get in there, you might as well use the electric pipe wrap at that point
A light bulb will not start a fire, like heat tape does. Either one is only a temp. fix.
You haven't mentioned what sort of pipes you have. Copper, galvinized, poly, PVC, CPVC, Pex?
Each responds differently to freezing.
If it's copper there's a very good chance that it has split, unfortunately. 
Be ready just in case. The other types aren't so prone to split but that's not a guarantee.
You say it's enclosed in plywood and insulation; it sounds to me like there is a part that's exposed somewhere and that's most likely at the point where the pipes come out of the foundation. Can you get to that through a crawl space, etc?
Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!
Is the extension beyond the foundation?
Thanks for the suggestions. I shut the water off before I went to work in case there was a problem and when my wife got home the pipe had thawed and not split.
This is the only picture I have. The sink is right inside the double doors. There is no foundation below so the pipes, while packed in insulation are still outside. I tried adding the heating tape but the pipes are too short so I took a chance that maybe they were also to short to freeze. There is only about two feet of pipe beyond the foundation. For the time being the faucets will just be left to trickle when it gets very cold out. Eventually I am ripping out the stupid
ialand and puting the sink back where it should be. The pipes are copper.
